Week of October 29th - November 2nd

Important Dates:

Tuesday October 30th: MS Faculty stand-up meeting @ 8am MS Library

Wednesday October 31st: Head of School candidate meet and greet: Dr. Rick Odum, MS Library @ 4pm

Friday November 2nd: Head of School candidate meet and greet: Mr. Shawn Vento, MS Library @ 8am

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar.

A special congratulations to our MS Cross Country team, for an impressive performance this past weekend. Thank you Luke Zaya for all your hard work and commitment to the team this year.

Season 2 Sport Sign Ups for MS Volleyball and Swimming were sent to students earlier this week. A nudge to give sport a try from their teachers is always helpful!

Activities / Clubs:

Clubs have gone well so far this year thanks to all of your hard work.

This past weekend the Robotics Club went to Seoul with Mr. Shaw and Ms. Wang. Mr Shaw had this to say, “Our newly formed robotics team traveled to Asia Pacific International School and competed in their first ever tournament. Our students did a great job designing, building, and programming their robots. They jumped out to an early lead but went out early in the elimination rounds. Our students are highly motivated to redesign their robots for the next tournament which will be held at KISJ on Saturday January 26th.”

Surveys for new club ideas will be going out to students and teachers soon after we get back from break. We are trying to get some student led clubs up and running as well as improving our club options in general for S2. Feel free to email or schedule a meeting with Neil Barnum if you have any input/ideas you would like to share.

SLL:

To conclude our Friday welcome showcase Ms. Reynen spoke of healthy risk-taking as critical to healthy student development. Following these performances, it is evident that there are exciting local opportunities across campus that our DRAGONS are taking part in to showcase, passion, commitment and leadership. This weekend marks the opening of another significant chance to “take comfortable risks”, this time with exposure to cultivating passion, commitment, and leadership to impact our global community.

Our international trips for Service Learning and Leading are about to open enrollment for all students who are interested to get out of their comfort zone, experience a change of scenery and an exchange of culture, while committing to projects with goals to help others in need.

We are currently collaborating with World Youth Adventures to process logistics that will offer students the following experiences:

• Grade 6 will support the development of healthy ecosystems by partnering the University Of Guam Centre for Island Sustainability
• Grade 7 will partner with St. Raphael’s Opportunity Centre in Taiwan, which is a day care centre for children and adults with wide-ranging disabilities and needs
• Grade 8 will work with Volunteer Building Cambodia to construct traditional Khmer style stilted houses in marginalised rural communities

Visiting parents and family members are invited to attend an information session Saturday October 20, at 9:00am in MS CS4, where we will discuss the need and potential impact of meaningful service learning opportunities, on individuals engaged with them, and for the world.

If participation in your grade level international trip interests you, please note that enrollment opens today, Friday October 19th, and closes on Friday, November 23rd. Kindly stay tuned for details that will be updated about the itinerary, points of contact; what to pack, expect, etc. Additionally, students and families will receive a personal letter directly from grade level trip leaders that will help KISJ community members weigh the positive outcomes of these experiences!

Dorms:

If you are a sponsoring any MS activity that requires students to leave or return to the dorms outside of their usual dorm student schedule, please contact the Deans (cwampler@kis.ac and bfisk@kis.ac) in advance so we can support you and the students.

To check out all the exciting learning happening in the KISJ MS Dorms follow us on Twitter @KISJ_Dorms. This past week included a #ArtBattle House Cup event, ELL games in Birch House, new anchor charts in grade 7 study hall, and a super fun culminating activity in our cooking club.

Technology:

How can I help? I would love to work with you in planning and/or co-teaching lessons. Please reach out, wlittle@kis.ac.

Tech Bytes: Google Slides just launched a new feature, Closed Captions. In presentation mode, click the CC option (found on the bottom left), allow microphone access your speech will be automatically transcribed and placed at the bottom of the screen. Right now the only language option is English, but other languages will be added in the near future.

Instructional Coach:

• Who might be interested in a book study? Fill out this form, if so!
• Personal Goal: Do you need support to continue developing your goal? Would you like to begin to collect data in support of your goal? Are there professional resources you might want to leave on? Please reach out to me, if so.
• KIS Reads: How is it going? Do you need support or strategies to keep it running smoothly? Please continue to use KIS Reads Agreements (MS) 2018-19 and reach out, whenever needed.

Counseling:

Dear Colleagues, Have a safe, restful, and rejuvenating break. Take time to fill your cup so that we can abundantly pour and share our love and care with our students and one another upon our return <3

Associate Principal:

Happy Friday Team!

*Please remember to wear formal attire on Saturday 10/20 during PTSCs, however don’t forget to bring comfortable clothing so you can participate in our Color Challenge from 1:30-3:00.

*Your feedback counts! Please take 2 minutes to complete this Fall Festival feedback form.

*Have an AMAZING BREAK!

Principal:

We made it! October break is finally here!!! Thank you MS faculty and staff for your tireless efforts in preparing for Family Weekend 2018 - middle school workshops, sessions and conference were well attended by our community. Our facility looked amazing, classrooms and learning spaces were exceptionally prepared. Teachers, thank you for all your efforts in ensuring student learning was appropriately showcased. These past few days have confirmed that learning is alive and well in the middle school. A special thanks to Crystal, Lyla and Stacy for their expert communication and organizational skills in ensuring Family Weekend ran smoothly. We’d love your feedback to help inform planning for next year, please click here at the conclusion of PTSC’s to contribute your voice.

Week of October 15th-20th

Important Dates:

Tuesday October 16th - MS Faculty morning meeting @ 8am in MS Library & MAP info sessions in MS Community Center @ 10:15-10:45am, 1-1:30pm, and 1:50-2:20pm

Thursday October 18th - Fall Festival

Friday October 19th - Student Led Conferences & MS Faculty PD

Saturday October 20th - PTSC, MS Color Challenge & School Wide Happy Hour

Sunshine:

Calling all middle school teachers! Please join us at Bosco’s in Moseulpo from 5pm-7pm. A welcome drink and snack will be provided. Our very own, very talented Mun Yun will be performing from 5:30-6:30 (with possible musical guest appearances from other MS staff!). We really hope you can make it!

On Saturday October 20th the school wide Leadership Team would like to invite you to decompress after the busy Family Weekend by joining them for pizza and beer from 3:15pm to 4:15pm on the HS rooftop if it rains we will move to the HS Mini Pac.

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address.

Faculty Council:

For the sake of establishing greater clarity and purpose in our agenda items, the faculty council has changed our monthly procedure. The faculty members of the council will be meeting one month without leadership, followed by the next month with leadership. The cost of this will be a longer turn-around to address individual concerns, but the clear benefit will be greater focus and efficiency in raising, responding to and following up on each issue brought forward.

Please trust that all issues raised are treated respectfully and with complete anonymity throughout this process.

Thus, this past week the council met without the leadership members present. We were able to coordinate concerns, clarify issues, and identify proper next steps on several issues. We look forward to being able to report back to you the results of our discussions with Leadership in early November.

Regards, Stacy & Brian

Athletics:

You can read the latest News on Athletics Website which is updated every Friday.

Lists of absent students can be found here and also on our Arts, Athletics and Activities Calendar. A special congratulations to our MS Golf team, who represented KISJ extremely well at Teddy Valley this past weekend. Thank you to the Guru of Golf, Mr. Boland for helping the young ones discover their passion for golf.

Next Week Events:

• MS Boys Badminton, KISJ @ NLCS (Wednesday, Oct. 17th)
• MS Boys Soccer, NLCS @ KISJ (Wednesday, Oct. 17th)
• MS Girls Soccer, KISJ @ NLCS (Wednesday, OCt. 17th)

SLL:

Greetings & Happy Autumn MS Students & Staff! My name is Ms. Kate Wilke and I’m working to assess need and coordinate impactful Service Leading & Learning opportunities, that will hopefully be as meaningful for our community as for those we work with.

It was a pleasure to become acquainted with our MS teaching team in the professional learning session after Chuseok break, and I'm looking forward to continuing to collaborate with this division of our KISJ learning community. Although I currently share time between high school classroom #H207 (just across the bridge) and Middle School Office #M106, I'd like to cordially invite you to stop in to say “Hello!” or to talk about the importance of service to healthy individuals and societies. Sustainable community development involves each of us to become more mindful about how our choices impact ourselves and each other; and this first requires awareness that opens conversations that build community.

Our 2019 Service Leading and Learning international trips are almost ready to be launched, just in time for Family weekend! Faculty, if you are interested in supporting an international service trip in a leadership capacity, please contact me to arrange a time when we can discuss details.

I am excited about working cooperatively and strategically to tackle local and global issues that shape our communities. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and let me know if you feel the same. "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -Mahatma Gandhi

Dorms:

Please refer to the following documents for dorm updates:

KISJ Dorm Parent Update Q1

Dorm Schedule of Events for KISJ Family Weekend (Oct. 18-20).

On Twitter? Follow us @KISJ_Dorms.

Technology:

How can I help? As the technology coach, I would love to work with you in planning lessons and units. Please reach out (wlittle@kis.ac) if you are interested in working together.

TechBytes: Google Classroom brought back the To-Do list. With this feature, teachers can get an overview of work turned in, work assigned and work graded for all of your classes. You can find this feature on the Hamburger Menu (3 lines on the top left of the page).

Instructional Coach:

• Who might be interested in a book study? Fill out this form, if so!
• Are you looking for an introduction to understanding MAP? Are you looking for how to use the MAP website? Please join me in the Community Center on Tuesday, Oct. 16th at any of the following times: 10:15-10:45am, 1-1:30pm, 1:50-2:20pm
• If you want support to prepare your classroom for Family Weekend, please reach out!
• Personal Goal: Do you need support to continue thinking about your goal? Would you like to begin to collect data in support of your goal?
• A call for student work for the multi-purpose exhibition room! Do you have student work from Q1 that could be displayed on shelves? Please get in contact with Whitney or me to get it on display. Student work will be the focal point!

Counseling:

Family Weekend Child Protection & Safeguarding: During family weekend our Middle School Counseling department will be hosting and co-leading two parent sessions, titled Student Support Services. Parents will be informed on the child protection policies and safeguarding procedures currently in place to support the physical and emotional safety of our students. Feel free to join us, per your schedule and flexibility, and encourage parents to attend if they have specific questions or concerns regarding the safety and well-being of their children.

• Friday October 19th from 10:00-11:00 in the Middle School R&D - Collaborative Space 4 (CS4) across from M113.
• Saturday, October 20th from 11:00-12:00 in the Middle School R&D - Collaborative Space 4 (CS4) across from M113.
• Friday, October 19th from 1:30-3:30 in the ES/MS Hexagon there will be a Child Protection Information Booth run by the Seogwipo Child Protection Agency. *Information will be provided in Korean and led by a local Child Protection Agency.

New Student Support: Throughout Q2 counselors will be conferencing one-on-one with our new students to establish rapport and provide transitional support. We will do our best to minimize their absence from core and elective classes. Thank you for your understanding and support.

Associate Principal:

Dragon Challenge: Try to make a parent laugh during PTSCs.

Family Weekend is this week! Please review the family weekend folder and pay particular attention to the daily schedules and the HSPAC seating chart.

Remind students to wear their summer or winter formal uniforms Friday 10/19, and Saturday 10/20.

Supervision duties change on October 16th: Check the supervision schedule to see if it’s your turn.

Principal:

Family Weekend Preparations: Alongside guiding your advisees in their preparations for leading their student led conference, you also need to consider how the learning environment is set up. Please ensure you reference pg. 3 and 5 of MS Faculty Handbook SY18/19.

The following are expectations for all classroom teachers. Please be sure to have the following items displayed, easily readable, in/around your classroom:

• Essential questions for the current unit
• ‘I can’ statements of recent learning objectives
• Standards that were or are currently being assessed
• Plenty of student work, weighing more heavily on process-oriented displays over products, where appropriate
• Bulletin boards are relevant, display learning and are engaging to the viewer

Communicating Learning: On Saturday, October 20th from 9-12:30am middle school students and parents will meet with middle school teachers to engage in brief 10min conversations. The purpose of these face-to-face meetings is to communicate student learning outcomes in your subject matter - think “two stars and 1 wish”. As you prepare for these brief conversations, please consider which students and parents might benefit from a longer face-to-face conversation with respect to areas of academic growth and improvement, behaviour, and/or social emotional concerns. If you anticipate such conversations, please reach out to students and parents this week to communicate your concerns and set up a meeting. Lyla is on hand for support with translation, so please include her in written communication and parent meetings.

Atlas Expectations: Please click here to become knowledgeable about SY’18/19 ATLAS expectations. On Friday October 19th, there is dedicated time in the afternoon for completing Q1 progress. As you read and understand the expectations, allocate your time accordingly during planning periods (non-student contact time) toward staying up-to-date on ATLAS curriculum mapping. You might consider using the Atlas Style Guide to direct your work. If you have questions please reach out to Julia Snider, Rick Odum or myself, we are here to help.

KISJ Staffing: Teachers, coaches, counselors and specialists if you are interested in applying for an internal position please click here to review which positions we are looking to fill. The first step in the process of expressing interest is to invite me to a 1:1 conversation, in the invitation please include; position you are seeking and the most recent iteration of your CV. All applications must be received by October 31st.

Volunteer Needed: The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) private piano and music theory exams will take place at KISJ on Monday, November 12th from 16:00-18:00. The Arts Department is calling for the support of a faculty / staff volunteer to oversee this exam. This 2-hour commitment will count toward ‘Dorm commitment hours’ this semester. Please contact John Leonard for more information and to sign-up.

Week of October October 8th-12th

Week of September 26th-28th & October 1st-5th

Important Dates:

Wednesday Sept. 26th - All MS faculty PD & team building

Thursday Sept. 27th - Is a “B” day

Friday Sept. 28th - All MS Faculty meet with their evaluator @ 8:00am

Friday Sept. 28th - Announced Fire Drill @10:15am

Thursday Oct. 4th - Q1 grades due @ 8am [PowerSchool]

Friday Oct. 5th - School wide & MS Department Meetings @ 8:00am, Q1 reports go live @ 5pm

Sunshine:

Please bookmark this Sunshine Weekly link to stay informed of information and events going on in our community. To subscribe to the blog for automatic updates, scroll to the very bottom and enter your email address. Hope to see many of you out for sports night!

Athletics:

All of your MS Dragons athletes kick off their seasons this past week. Overall, our students displayed high character and grit in their respective competitions. You can read about all the results here.

Technology:

I will be offering Online Rubric Grading Training Friday, September 28th in the Community Center. These sessions will offer information and support on how to use Goobric and Doc Appender. Please sign up for the session/s you would like to attend. Feel free to attend both!

Before coming to the session, please have these extensions and add ons downloaded.

Goobric (extension)

Doctupus Sheet (add-on)

DocAppender Form (add-on)

Tech Bytes: EquatiO is a Chrome extension that makes it easy to write equations and math expressions on the computer. By handwriting a mathematical expression directly on your keyboard, you can create accurate, on-screen formulas.

Instruction Coach:

Personal Goals: As we begin creating personal goals, this is a great opportunity to invite me into the planning conversation to plot out your path towards achieving those goals. Alternatively, if you’d like baseline data collected as jumping off point for measured progress toward your goal, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Professional Development: In addition to the above, we have several great books waiting for you in the Community Center that might be perfect in supporting you in your development this year:

Counseling:

Child Protection Professional Development: One of the most important roles we have as educators is to serve in loco parentis to one degree or another. With this role in mind, it is an important part of our practice to learn how to keep our students safe.

By 12:30pm on Wednesday, September 26th all KISJ teachers and support staff will have completed the Educational Collaborative for International Schools (ECIS) Child Protection Certification course. This course is designed to teach "how the recruitment of new staff, the creation and implementation of policies and procedures, and the oversight of school leadership are interconnected and mutually-reinforcing areas of building a safeguarding culture." Upon completion please place your certificate inside this folder.

Please continue to use the following KISJ child protection policies and safeguarding procedures: Professional Ethics, Child Protection, and Communication to support your personal practice. These resources will guide the MS Child Protection Professional Development session scheduled upon our return from Chuseok break.

Associate Principal:

Family weekend (schedule): Please note this is draft and will continue to be updated between now and October 18th. Student schedules will be included in next week’s Faculty and Student weekly.

Fire Drill: Our first fire drill will take place on September 28th @10:15am. This is an announced Drill. A copy of the latest version of our MS Fire drill procedure including your advisory list will be placed in your mailbox by the end of today. Make sure you have this document and a laminated red and green card ready at all times, especially for the drill on Friday. If you still need laminated red and green cards please visit the MS office and pick them up.

Principal:

Communicating Learning: Communicating learning is at the heart of our practice as an educator. Throughout the quarter, middle school teachers communicate exclusively with students via Google Classroom with respect to feedback on the learning process. Assignments, rubrics, and expectations are to be posted in Google Classroom and all formative and summative numerical feedback will be communicated via Google Classroom. Students must be provided multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency, therefore regular documented feedback is required. At the conclusion of each quarter teachers post final grades and DRAGONS scores in PowerSchool, all data must be entered this quarter no later than 8:00am on Thursday October 4th. Q1 reports will be made available to students and parents at 5pm on Friday October 5th.

Child Safeguarding: Safeguarding is a shared responsibility which is the foundation of our professional practice as educators. If you have not yet received your login for the ECIS online child protection course please reach out to Lyla today. I look forward to continuing our dialogue and discussion around this very important topic next week.

PGP: On Friday September 28th @ 8:00am your evaluator has invited you to attend a session in respect to the evaluative aspect of the PGP. Faculty, if you have not yet received an invitation please contact Lyla and let her know. Prior to this session please refer to the Professional Evaluation Rubric (appendix 3). Note that Bryan and myself will be running two separate sessions at the same time.

MS Staffing: Please join me in welcoming Mr. Laris Goff to the middle school faculty. Mr. Goff joins us from just across the hexagon and will be teaching 6-8 Design Thinking & Technology classes for the remainder of this academic year. Mr. Goff successfully completed a 3-part interview which resulted in a unanimous recommendation to hire. He will be a member of the grade 6 team and is excited to be a positive contributor to the middle school. Middle Level Leaders Ms. Whitney Little, Head of Design & Technology and Mr. Seth Hills, G6 Team Lead will be directly supporting Mr. Goff in his transition. In turn Ms. Little is transitioning herself and will officially assume the role of MS Technology Integrator and Coach on October 8th, 2018.

Teachers, coaches, counselors and specialists if you are interested in applying for internal positions please click here to review the what position we are looking to fill. Note that ISS & Scroll are currently merging their systems, the link will be back up early next week. The first step in the process of expressing interest is to invite me to a 1:1 conversation, in the invitation please include; position you are seeking and the most recent iteration of your CV.